Draft resolutions being prepared for the APEC summit in September and leaked to the ABC called for avoiding deforestation as a partial solution to climate change. The proposal has been criticised by Greenpeace clean energy campaigner, Ben Pearson, as being a step backward from Kyoto. "It is a return to the aspirational targets of the early nineties," he said. he called for the conference to embrace and extend the Kyoto Protocol, rather than undermining it.
Greens leader Bob Brown has announced an invitation to the APEC heads of government to come to Tasmania and view the clear felling of native forests which are being destroyed to feed the new pulp mill being built in Tasmania. The pulp mill, proposed by woodchipping giant, Gunns Limited, will burn 500,000 tonnes of wood per annum and put out millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases. Environment minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will assess the environmental impact of the pulp mill but has not agreed to consider greenhouse gas pollution as part of that assessment.
"Prime Minister Howard will be an APEC hypocrite if he calls on other countries to stop burning forests but continues to subsidise and promote it in Australia," Bob Brown said.